


Sensitive Subjects

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s01e09 The Short List, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-03-06
Updated: 2004-03-06
Packaged: 2019-05-31 03:24:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15110801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: "Like goin' to see your father to ask him about something you knowyou weren't supposed to see."





	Sensitive Subjects

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Sensitive Subjects**   
**by:** Kasey

**Character(s):** Josh  
**Pairing(s):** None  
**Category(s):** Josh, Leo, Josh POV   
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, please don't sue me, they belong to Aaron Sorkin and Warner Brothers and all those people with a LOT more money than me, I just write for fun, I get no money or anything else for my writing using these characters, etc.  
**Summary:** "Like goin' to see your father to ask him about something you know you weren't supposed to see."  
**Spoiler:** Mid-ep The Short List, focuses on something in Bartlet For America   
**Written:** 12/20/2001  


As I wander back to the White House after talking to Danny, I can't help but think: Lillienfield's definitely after something very specific. He's not just out to have us look bad at a time when we need to look good, when we need to get our confirmation through. 

So that just leaves the question of who?

It's gotta be someone important, someone with a considerable amount of influence, mostly 'cause without the influence then he's got no real case to claim the person's a threat. It's not like the majority of the people who work in this building have much influence on the President.

Which leaves me with the short list of those who do:

Nancy McNally and the National Security Council.

Chairman Fitzwallace and the Chiefs of Staff.

Then... Then there's us. Sam and Toby and CJ and Mandy and Leo and I.

I knew Sam in college - he didn't do anything more than smoke the occasional cigar or drink a beer during a group thing...

Mandy doesn't do any kind of drugs...sometimes acts like she does, but she doesn't, unless of course she managed to hide it for a fairly long time.

Which leaves Toby and CJ and-...

Oh, shit. 

This might be a problem.

It's not like I just have this knowledge off the top of my head - it's LEO, y'know, you don't exactly get big into personal history with him.

But it's pretty much a badly-guarded secret that he used to be a drunk...Maybe that's all they're after. The thing that happened on the campaign trail.

Yeah, right. Lillienfield would've said something different if he was just after the drinking.

But he's got something. He's not stupid - a jackass, but not stupid. There's something he knows that no one else does and he's about to unfurl it in full splendor on prime time.

Which is exactly what we don't need right now.

So I've gotta go talk to Leo. That oughta be fun.

To ask about his history with the, y'know...thing...would mean to talk about the thing I know that no one else does...the thing that happened three years ago that no one's supposed to know but I do.

Like goin' to see your father to ask him about something you know you weren't supposed to see.

When I called him in his hotel room...this is gonna sound weird, but when I called him and he sounded like that...I figured he'd fallen asleep. Probably 'cause I was feeling so sleep-deprived at that point that I thought, y'know, wouldn't surprise me if other people were feeling it too.

Then he showed up downstairs. Everyone else had gone to the hospital with the Governor, and the room was empty 'cept for me - I was waiting for Leo to figure out what to do. We couldn't possibly let other people know about this and cancel the debate, could we? That'd screw us for sure.

So he showed up downstairs, reeking of scotch, looking pretty drunk. 

I didn't lecture him. I didn't, y'know, yell at him how bad this was. I mean, I'd heard rumours to the effect of 'Yeah, that guy who used to be the Secretary of Labour is a drunk', but there wasn't really a huge amount of substance to them yet.

So now I sit here and wonder...Could there have been something else?

It makes perfect sense. What more could Lillienfield want as a Christmas present than to make it out that the most trusted confidant of the President is a drunk and a drug-addict?

I don't wanna believe it. But my job this week is to ask everyone about their histories and their drug use.

It's what I need to do. And Leo had to have known I'd have to ask him as well when he told me to start interviewing.

So here I go.


End file.
